James Bond

The opening two minutes of Goldeneye contain some of
the best stunts that I have seen, and while the rest of the movie does
not maintain this level of action, I think it is one of the best Bond
movies made.

I'm sure it is old news that Piece Brosnan is the new James Bond.
From the trailers I knew that this was going to be a good thing, since
I didn't think much of Timothy Dalton or George Lazenby. Brosnan has
the look, the style, and the voice that James Bond should have (in
motion pictures at least). He has in him some of the better
characteristics of Connery (the walk and the sophistication) and Moore
(the quick one-liners, the cheeky smile, and the furrowed brow), thus
making an ideal Bond.

The movie is good mainly because it does not deviate significantly
from any of the older Bond movies with Connery and Moore in them. The
girls, the cars, the guns, the stunts, and the surrealism in the
introductory credits are still there, as are Bond's old colleagues Q
(Desmond Llewelyn) and Moneypenny (Samantha Bond).

However, M, the division head, has been replaced by a female (Judi
Dench) who thinks of Bond as a "sexist mysogynistic dinosaur." But
she needs him to to recover a device codenamed Goldeneye, which is a
relic of the Cold War (among many others in the movie). The device,
built by the Russians, destroys by detonating a nuclear device in
space, resulting in waves of electromagnetic radiation causing damage
to electronic equipment on the surface. In order to track down
Goldeneye, Bond has to fight his old friend 006 (Sean Bean), who plans
to use the Goldeneye device to extract revenge upon England, Xenia
Onatopp (Femke Janssen), an ex-Russian fighter pilot with a literal
lust for violence, and General Ourumov (Gottfried John), who wants to
become the next Iron Man of Russia. On his side, Bond has Natalya
Simyonova (Isabella Scorupco), a computer programmer who survived the
first detonation of Goldeneye, CIA agent Jack Wade (Joe Don Baker),
BMWs that fire missiles, pens that explode, and other Q inventions.

Sean Bean plays a great villain, and the chemistry between 006 and
007 comes off well. Femke Janssen also plays a great villainess, and
together they represent a formidable opponent worthy of Bond. The
story is typical Bond fare, and while some of the scenes are absurd,
it fits in well with previous efforts. Contrary to popular opinion,
the plot isn't really outdated---the dangers of devices created in the
former Soviet Union during the Cold War falling into the wrong hands
is a pretty real threat. The music is about the only thing I think
which has been really "modernised", and I don't think it takes away
too much from the movie. Tina Turner does a great job on the
introductory song (written by Bono and The Edge).
Goldeneye is an excellent action flick, and a great Bond
movie.

As has been repeated several times, the demise of Communism in the
Soviet Union is one of the worst things to ever have happened to
Hollywood. Dozens of plot devices were suddenly no longer
available. Some writers, however, kept going, dishing out the same
plots, only realising later that they could no longer bank on the
anti-Communist tendencies that had been present in the general
populace to carry the movie. However, a few movies in Hollywood
managed to reinvent themselves. Fortunately for us, the James Bond
series is one of them.

In the latest James Bond flick, Tomorrow Never Dies,
not only do we see cooperation between the Imperialists and the
Communists, but we also see a more confident Pierce Brosnan playing
James Bond, and the contentment of knowing that the more some things
change, the more they stay the same.

Brosnan is definitely the right person to play 007. Neither George
Lazenby nor Timothy Dalton were very charismatic, and Roger Moore and
Sean Connery are not as young (though it would be interesting to see a
Bond movie set in the future (i.e., depicting an old or retired Bond),
with Connery returning). To his credit, Brosnan appears to have
settled into the driver's seat, making the depiction of James Bond in
Tomorrow Never Dies one of the best.

The plot in Tomorrow Never Dies is essentially the
same as other Bond movies. The movie opens with a great action
sequence, even better than the one in Goldeneye, which depicts Bond preventing
a plane carrying nuclear weapons from being destroyed by a
missile. The credits sequence is spectacular, primarily due to the
presence of an "electronic figurine".

Soon we switch gears and learn of an evil media tycoon, Elliot
Carver (Jonathan Pryce), who seeks to control how information is
distributed around the world. Carver is a character who literally is
symbolic of people like Ted Turner and Rupert Murdoch, but he reminded
me of Bill Gates. Of course, the ultimate goal of this control is the
epitome of capitalism: acquisition of wealth. How ironic then that a
movie series that relied on anti-communist tendencies now relies on
anti-capitalist tendencies to sell itself.

Carver's idea of information control involves being the source of
information generated, so he can be the "first" to distribute it. To
this end, he engineers a situation, through the use of his technology,
where China and the United Kingdom are almost at war with each
other. Bond is assigned to stop him.

As Bond goes about his job, he runs into Carver's loyal henchman
Stamper (Gotz Otto), Dr. Kaufman (Vincent Schiavelli), one of the most
humourous characters in the movie, Wai Lin (Michelle Yeoh), a Chinese
agent who helps Bond fight Carver, and Paris Carver (played listlessly
by Teri Hatcher), an old flame of Bond.

At this point, the burning questions are: how long does it take
before Bond gets to sleep with Paris and Wai Lin? How many times does
Carver try to kill Bond and Wai Lin? Who dies first: Stamper or
Carver? And so on. For answers to these, you have to see the movie.

While it may seem like a lot has changed, but in some ways, the
Bond movie series has still remained the same.

Brosnan and Yeoh are well-matched. I much prefer Yeoh, who is
fairly charismatic and quite athletic, to many of the other ladies
Bond has been paired up with. Pryce plays a brilliant over-the-top
villain. One of the most amusing scenes in the movie is when Carver
mockingly imitates Wai Lin's kicks and punches, ending with
"pathetic!"

The main problem I had with the movie was the less-than-perfect
production. Perhaps it was due to filming in a foreign country, but
there's a lot of awkwardness among the extras, which indicates that
not enough footage was collected, or enough attention wasn't paid in
the cutting room. But since I like Jackie Chan movies, this is only a
minor nitpick as far as I am concerned.

Other problems include a suggested conflict between M (Judi Dench)
and a British general, which is never exploited fully, and the
one-liners by Moneypenny (Samantha Bond), whose role entails little
more than making little quips, irked me. Finally, there is little
inventiveness (unlike in Jackie Chan movies) involved in how Bond gets
out of the scrapes he gets himself in.

The premise of the movie isn't that far off from reality. Given
the direction intellectual property laws are heading, nothing short of
a police state will ensure that the so-called "owners of information"
profit from every use of the information. And who said a Bond movie
isn't thought-provoking?

The latest James Bond film, The World is Not Enough
is an action-packed thrill-ride that delights and comforts in its
predictability.

Once again, the plot is based on a mystery of international
proportions. Oil tycoon Robert King (David Calder) is killed by a bomb
planted in a suitcase of money that James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) bungee
jumps of a multi-story building to retrieve. Bond is "assigned" to
protect the life of the magnate's daughter, Elektra (Sophie
Marceau). The primary villain is suspected to be Renard (Robert
Carlyle), aka the Anarchist, a man responsible for kidnapping Elektra
but who is now dying a slow death as a bullet from 009's gun travels
through his brain making him stronger every day he continues to live.

But like in any Bond film, things aren't necessarily what they
seem. Bond arrives in Kazakhstan and encounters Christmas Jones
(Denise Ricards), a nuclear physicist, who is in charge of validating
the former Soviet Union's extinct nuclear programme. Together they try
to stop Renard from stealing plutonium and using it for his nefarious
ends (i.e., world destruction).

There are some great chase/action sequences in the film, including
the opening sequence where Bond jumps out of the window, one on the
Thames river on motor boats which culminates in the explosion of an
hot-air balloon, one where Bond and Elektra dodge attackers from the
air and from the ground on skis, one where Bond and Jones tunnel
through an oil pipeline, one where Bond is attacked by helicopters
with buzzsaws (which cuts through his BMW before he gets to make much
use of it) and the final sequence in a submarine that is stuck under
water about to unleash a nuclear explosion. The gadgets that Bond has,
such as the x-ray glasses and a jacket that becomes a large inflatable
bubble, are a bit timid but provide comic relief. The exotic settings
in Spain, Russia and Turkey are filmed extremely well and add to the
sense of International intrigue that we've come to associate with Bond
films.

Historically, this is an important Bond film because it is the
final appearance of Desmond Llewelyn who plays Q (though his exit
wasn't handled so well I thought); he is replaced by R (John Cleese)
which should prove to be interesting. The opening sequence involving
oil and oil rigs is one of the better ones I've seen in Bond films,
and the theme song (courtesy of Garbage) is a comfortable one. Brosnan
certainly has some great lines here, but I really felt sad for
Richards. She gets the worst lines and the worst times to deliver them
(considering saying "you're taking a big risk" when Bond decides to go
out of a submerged submarine and enter via an alternate route).
Renard as a secondary villain isn't one of the best. There is a lot of
sexually innuendo in the film which does end up being amusing.

Brosnan certainly has what it takes to play James Bond, and with
each film he just gets better and better. I would even dare say that
he can lay claim to being the best Bond ever. This is great
Thanksgiving eye and ear candy.

The latest movie in the James Bond franchise, released in time for
its 40th anniversary, is one of the best Bond films, thanks to a
confluence of factors. These include Pierce Brosnan settling into the
secret agent role as well as Roger Moore or Sean Connery, the ability
to convincingly conjure up yet another villainous megalomaniac bent on
wreaking destruction, and a somewhat dark opening sequence that shows
that even Bond is quite vulnerable.

The cold war may have ended but its impact on the world's psyche
and day-to-day operation is as strong as ever. The problem is that
there was a great weapons buildup and the superpowers, along with
their crony states, are hard-pressed to keep the technology developed
from causing death and destruction. It's a perfect opportunity for
psychopaths to unleash their dreams of world domination... and for
licensed-to-kill agent 007 to stop them while dazzling us with his
charm, wit, and arsenal of cool gadgets.

The high-energy opening action sequence ends up with Bond being
captured and tortured in a North Korean prison (the relationship
between the Korean peninsula and the cold war is made
explicit). Suspected of leaking information, he is traded for the spy
he was initially after, Zao (Rick Yune). His license to kill is
revoked by M (Judi Dench) and he is placed under observation. But he
soon redeems himself, and equipped with the latest weaponry courtesy
of Q (John Cleese), goes after Zao. The trail leads him to a
confrontation with the diamond merchant Gustav Graves (Toby Stephens),
who has innovative uses for the product he peddles. Bond is aided in
his quest by Jinx (Halle Berry) and Miranda Frost (Rosalind Pike), who
are quite formidable on their own.

For some reason, there are a lot of scenes (characters stating
dialogue) in the film that seem really awkward, even allowing for the
so-bad-that-it's-good comments made in Bond films. This suggests that
the director (Lee Tamahori) wasn't able to set the right context for
the actors (or that it's just a bad editing job).

But dialogue isn't that important in a Bond film anyway. The
scenes are filmed competently, the settings are picturesque, and the
over-the-top performance by Toby Stephens works well. The acting by
Barry and Pike is decent, and Brosnan seems to be enjoying
himself. The score by David Arnold featuring the famous Bond theme is
quite good.

The film pays tribute to all the 19-odd Bond films by making
references to them. It's a good marketing trick since I didn't get
them all in the first viewing. Die Another Day is a fun
movie to watch and I definitely recommend checking it out on the big
screen.